News

Nagambie ambulance members statement

12 February 2015

February 12, 2015

MS RYAN (Euroa) — I rise to place on record the dire need for a permanent ambulance presence in Nagambie. The increasing urgency of the town's situation was highlighted earlier this year when a boat exploded, injuring seven people, including six children. The youngest of the children, a four-year-old boy, suffered burns to his face, while a man suffered burns to his entire body and had to be airlifted to the Alfred hospital.

Nagambie is a growing community and over five months of the year the town's population swells dramatically. Since 2004 the town has been serviced by a dedicated community emergency response team — an interim measure designed to precede a dedicated ambulance service. Many in the community have told of how they owe their lives to the amazing efforts of those volunteers. But despite a concerted recruiting effort, the number of volunteers has dwindled from 30 to 11.

Before the election the then shadow Minister for Regional and Rural Development indicated that Labor would watch any announcement by the coalition with interest. While Labor may have been interested and it may have made promises to fix the so-called ambulance crisis, it has not cared enough to fix the crisis in Nagambie. The coalition committed to locate two paramedics in Nagambie as well as an ambulance community officer. Regrettably, no such commitment was forthcoming from Labor. I urge the Labor government to meet with the Nagambie Ambulance Service Community Alliance — a group of local residents that has sought to find a constructive solution to this problem.